I have been this situation before. I quited my phd.

Maybe your boss is too tough for you. You should find a nice boss.

really?

u did quit your phd becos of a tough boss?

i sometimes think of the possibility of leaving academia becos of the un-friendly situation with my boss too.......

what did u choose to do after leaving your field?

en, take it easy. Maybe 6 months later when you look back, you will find out that's not a big issue.

My boss is an typical english man. very very strict. the first year I was trying to quit all the time. but later on, by the hard push from him, you may progress faster. and you may find out he is a reasonable and nice guy. just sometimes lean too hard on students. and he admitted this to me once.

guess it's just a process and the style from that boss. as long as he is not unreasonable and only tough on research, that's ok/

i c, yeah my boss say too many criticism, i feel myself already worked very hard, but it's so hard for me, a new comer in the field to match the speed of someone who's been in the field for 20 years...

so every time he says words like "maybe you dun have potential in this field",

it hurts my feelings A LOT

sigh, makes me think if an experienced researcher says i dun have potential, why do i bother struggle for a phd...........

yeah, he said our field has too tough competition, so most ppl cannot survive after graduation;

therefore it's the field's fault, not his fault.....hehe

i think professor's dun have responsibility to teach grad students, like my advisor, he never wants to spend time with us to explain his ideas for the research project.

sometimes i think of leave academia, but i am not sure what are working in other fields like, i tried working in research industry and decided i like research at school better.........

Sounds a good idea.

Anyway, don't take your boss' words too seriously. You should obtain the self-confidence from yourself but not from others' comments. To the extreme, why don't you have to believe what he is saying? Why can't his comments on you be incorrect. I mean if you love this field and you like to give yourself a chance to try, your boss is just a 'tool' for you to be better. You study for a ph.d. degree to be better. You could/should choose someone that suits your purpose better. After all, it is you not your boss to determine whether you have potential. Don't be botthered by your boss' attitude to you too much, although I know it is hard to do

I suggest you change your boss if you can before it gets too late. Otherwise, your graduate life is miserable.

6 months is not too bad. Change it before it turns out to be two or three years or more. Then it is a whole waste.

Donot fight with him or confront with him. Just leave, saying you have other interest, you appreciate his help, but you like ....better.